Obama offers comfort after Colorado shooting

President Barack Obama talks about one of the victims and her injury during a statement from the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo. today.

AURORA, Colo. >> Despair all around him, President Barack Obama offered hugs,
tears and the nation's sympathy to survivors of the Colorado shooting
rampage and to families whose loved ones were shot dead. He found hope
in the heartbreak, insisting a brighter day will come.

In dramatic
detail, Obama offered a glimpse inside the horror that took place in
the Denver-area movie theater early Friday, relaying a story he said
spoke to the courage of young Americans. With two fingers pressed to his
own neck, Obama recalled how one woman saved the life of a friend who
had been shot by keeping pressure on a vein that had "started spurting
blood" and later helping carry her to safety.

Behind closed doors today,
Obama visited one by one with hurting families gathered at a hospital
and patients recovering in intensive care. He emerged before the TV
cameras and kept his focus on the lives and dreams of the fallen and the
survivors, not the shooting suspect or his "evil act."

"I come to
them not so much as president as I do as a father and as a husband,"
Obama told reporters after his visits. "The reason stories like this
have such an impact on us is because we could all understand what it
would be to have somebody we love taken from us in this fashion.""

For
a president nearing the end of his term and seeking a second one, it
was another grim occasion for him to serve as national consoler in
chief, a role that has become a crucial facet of the job. National
tragedies can present an opportunity for presidents to show leadership
and rise above partisan politics, as with President Bill Clinton and the
Oklahoma City bombing and President George W. Bush and the Sept. 11
attacks.

But in moments of sorrow, presidents can risk looking
detached and out of touch. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina is an
often-cited example.

Obama was accompanied at the hospital by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan.

A
single suspect, James Holmes, is being held without bond on suspicion
of multiple counts of first-degree murder after the shooting rampage,
which occurred minutes into a premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" early
Friday in this suburb outside Denver.

Today's trip was Obama's
second time to Colorado in less than a month to comfort residents in a
state that's critical to the November election. He made a quick visit in
late June to Colorado Springs, where hundreds of homes were destroyed
in the most devastating wildfire in the state's history.

"These
families need that kind of contact by our elected leader," Oates told
CBS' "Face the Nation." ''It will be very powerful and it will help
them. As awful as what they've been through and what they're going
through has been, having the president here is very, very powerful."

"I
think the president coming in is a wonderful gesture," Hogan said on
ABC's "This Week." ''He's coming in, really, to have private
conversations with the families. I think that's totally appropriate."

Obama
already had been a frequent election-year visitor to Colorado, which he
won by more than 8 percentage points over Republican John McCain four
years ago. But neither Obama's nor GOP challenger Mitt Romney's camp
expects that big a margin this time. Recent polls place Obama's lead
inside the margin of error.

The shock of the mass shooting brought
the presidential campaign to a standstill for the weekend. Obama cut
short a political trip to Florida to return to Washington and Romney
canceled interviews. Both campaigns pulled ads off the air in Colorado
out of respect for the victims.

"This weekend I hope everyone
takes some time for prayer and reflection," Obama said Saturday in his
weekly radio and Internet address, "for the victims of this terrible
tragedy, for the people who knew them and loved them, for those who are
still struggling to recover."

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said Sunday during a briefing on Air Force One that the Obama campaign
will keep its television ads off the air in Colorado through the whole
week.

Psaki said the campaign canceled a grassroots event
scheduled for Portland, Ore., Tuesday in part because resources had to
be diverted to Colorado for the president's trip. She said it was
appropriate to cancel the grassroots rally because of the tone of that
type of campaign event.

But some election activities were to resume Monday.

From
Colorado, Obama was to fly to San Francisco to start a previously
scheduled three-day campaign trip that includes a speech to the Veterans
of Foreign Wars in Reno, Nev., fundraisers in California, Oregon and
Washington state, and a speech to the National Urban League convention
in New Orleans.

Romney is scheduled to address the VFW Tuesday.

The task of articulating sorrow and loss has become a familiar one for Obama.

In
November 2009, he led mourners at a service for victims of the mass
shooting at Texas' Fort Hood. In January 2011, he spoke at a memorial
for the six victims killed in Tucson, Ariz., when a gunman attacked Rep.
Gabrielle Giffords as she met with constituents.

The following
April, when some 300 people were killed in a multistate series of
tornadoes, Obama flew to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to commiserate with residents
whose homes were in ruins. A month later, Obama went to Joplin, Mo.,
after a monster twister claimed 161 lives. This year, he came back on
the storm's anniversary to give a commencement speech at Joplin High
School.

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sluggahwrote:

Photo op!

on July 22,2012 | 08:46AM

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seriouswrote:

You got it. Look how long it took him to go to Ft Bragg---but that was not an election year!!! And the military votes R.

on July 22,2012 | 08:50AM

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entrknwrote:

fool

on July 22,2012 | 03:35PM

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Pochowrote:

Yeah it is. Just this weekend according the Chicago Tribune. 22 shot and 3 dead Friday nite/Saturday morning. That's in President Obama's backyard so to say, that's where his political roots are.
No President Obams visit to comfort Chicagoians! Crazy

on July 22,2012 | 07:29PM

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soundofreasonwrote:

Great. Like they haven't been through enough. Yes, this is a horrific situation but if I remember correctly, doesn't he have more important things he ought to be attending to? That "jobs thing" still isn't handled as I recall. Maybe, for comfort, he's going to show up and personally sign these people up for welfare.

on July 22,2012 | 09:45AM

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entrknwrote:

What kind of degenerate are you?...

on July 22,2012 | 03:38PM

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soundofreasonwrote:

A degenerate who's tired of his President doing anything and everything BUT what he said he'd do.

on July 22,2012 | 08:38PM

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kahu808wrote:

Would he be chastised if he DIDN'T go? It was definitely the human thing to do.

on July 22,2012 | 06:04PM

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falsewrote:

False2: This is quite annoying. For him to stoop to this level is alarming. Leave them alone, they don't need or want you there!

on July 22,2012 | 01:05PM

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alliewrote:

He was appreciated!

on July 22,2012 | 02:15PM

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DAGR81wrote:

How do you know this?

on July 22,2012 | 03:08PM

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entrknwrote:

because they said so...

on July 22,2012 | 03:42PM

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entrknwrote:

you are lower than the bottom and completely clueless...

on July 22,2012 | 03:41PM

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Maneki_Nekowrote:

So basically this was a 2 1/2 hour stopover on the campaign trail.

on July 22,2012 | 01:25PM

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NanakuliBosswrote:

And the republican/tea party parrots chirp in.

on July 22,2012 | 02:08PM

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al_kiqaedawrote:

Who let the democratic monkey out?

on July 22,2012 | 03:45PM

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entrknwrote:

President Obama was the good Samaritan who stopped and consoled the victims while Levites like you and Romney kept on going...

on July 22,2012 | 03:47PM

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alliewrote:

Love my Obama. Decent Christian man

on July 22,2012 | 02:15PM

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soundofreasonwrote:

We didn't elect him to BE a Christian.

on July 22,2012 | 02:21PM

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seriouswrote:

Think of the expense/overtime paid for the VISIT?

on July 22,2012 | 03:13PM

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entrknwrote:

shame on you...

on July 22,2012 | 03:48PM

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NanakuliBosswrote:

Serious, your comments on rail are because of being a republican. You really want to see America fail so u can say, I told u so!

on July 22,2012 | 06:58PM

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DAGR81wrote:

Maybe, but this stopover in Colorado was simply political.

on July 22,2012 | 03:09PM

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entrknwrote:

you are the dumbest and dullest tack on the board...

on July 22,2012 | 03:51PM

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DAGR81wrote:

Go away. You desperately need to get a life.

on July 22,2012 | 05:44PM

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NanakuliBosswrote:

U need a life,repulsivecan.

on July 22,2012 | 06:59PM

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DAGR81wrote:

OK dumacrat

on July 22,2012 | 10:23PM

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Carang_da_buggahzwrote:

Nothing Obama does is without a calculated political gain. What a phony and shameful display of "Concern" to score a few political points. Yeah, like he's really one of us. But all his Liberal Lemmings will just swoon, ooohhhh, and ahhhhh, just to touch the sandals on his feet. Give me a break.